What made it great is one of those terrifying things you give to creatives to test their nerve – a completely open brief. So far no one has come back asking for details. Kudos to the participants. So far, too, we have three vastly different stories. That was the whole idea. Here’s another wonderful creative interpretation – by Joe Hill & Garret Fitzgerald.

l-r: Joe Hill & Garret Fitzgerald

There seem to be two holy grails in advertising. The idea that is so “big” that it transcends all media and the idea that actually needs the limits of a channel in order to blow your mind. We humbly belong to the hoard questing after big media-neutral ideas but have a special soft spot for the media-specific masterpiece. There is something so McGyver cool about treating the limits as the opportunity. Which brings us to our “it”. Pre-roll campaigns that show us how great pre-roll can be.

 GEICO – Unskippable

GEICO Unskippable was the sort of campaign that pings around a creative dept faster than you can say “I wish I’d done that”. Meeting the challenge of the skip button head on, you can almost hear the satisfaction of the creatives in the VO’s delivery of “you can’t skip this ad, because it’s already over”. Having this then inform the action (or lack of) makes for something Unskippable in every sense – you can’t skip the ad, and you can’t help but continue to watch the comedy gold. Hats off to the Martin Agency, their Cannes Film Grand Prix and their ongoing Geico genius.

EXTRA – SUPPORT ACTS

EXTRA Support Acts turns the annoying ad before the music video you came to watch into a performance space for up and coming bands. This is awesome in itself, but the creatives pushed it further. The famous bands actually intro the new ones. The length of time you watched them before skipping turned into votes, which helped get bands headlining the AMA awards, which helped set a new YouTube record for view through. Throw in some programmatic targeting and you have a campaign whose smarts will haunt you if any planner ever pops it on a brief as reference.

MYER – SIX SECOND SALE

 The six-second bumper is the definition of limited time, so why on earth did it take advertising until this idea to turn it into a limited time sale? All the FOMO and urgency of bursting through the real store doors like a maniac, converted deftly into digital behaviour. It could have been a six-second case film, that’s how elegant a thought this is. But it was more than a flash of brilliance – it was executed cleverly and at scale, with Vogon being used to generate the sheer volume of assets needed, and retargeting ensuring sale items were served to the right people. Makes us wonder what innovation in retail pre-roll might come out of our current shopping from home fest?

MCDONALD’S – HAND WASH

https://youtu.be/OmsiNEhBCcg

To round out, McDonald’s Unskippable Hand Wash uses 20 seconds of compulsory watching to remind us of something as timely as it is basic. The effect on the viewer is almost visceral – that wanting to skip sensation meets the having to watch frustration to fuse into a salient moment you’re unlikely to forget.

This is just some of the work that continues to school us. Time, space, file size – all of these channel challenges are opportunities. The scrolling, swiping, constantly refreshing history of ad creativity remains one of finding the best ways to use channels and platforms as they evolve and multiply. TikTok will have its Cannes Film Grand Prix. Who knows, maybe House Party will too. Exciting times.

Catch up with the series:

What Made it Great? #1: Paul Nagy, chief creative officer, VMLY&R Group Aus & NZ

What made it great #2? Toby Harrison, Chief Strategy Officer, Ogilvy Sydney